


The Ratava

by orphan_account



Series: The Ratava [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, Homophobia, Homosexuality, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Pansexual Aang, Plot With Porn, Spirit World shenanigans, Tui and La Are Gay Dads, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:55:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24602725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The stories tell of A Hundred Year War that was birthed hate, suffering, and loss. The Avatar, master of all four elements, was the sole savior of the world along with his friends: Katara, Sokka, Toph, Suki, and Zuko. However, what the stories fail to mention is the addition of a boy named Akira, a hybrid of Man and Spirit, born to replace the avatar during his time spent frozen in ice. Akira’s name and existence were lost to the sands of time and the power of the spirits. The story that is about to unfold is the real story of how the Hundred Year War ended and how the Avatar joined forces with the Ratava to save the world.A retelling of the classic story as it actually happened with swearing, sex, and a whole lot of spirits.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar), Zuko (Avatar)/Original Male Character(s)
Series: The Ratava [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1778467
Comments: 1
Kudos: 23





	1. The Boy in The Spirit World

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Before we begin I'd like to thank you for clicking on my work! Also the Gaang and other character's ages are different. Aang is 116, Katara is 17, Sokka is 18, Toph is 15, Suki is 18, and Zuko is 18. If you want to know more about Akira's appearance or just see notes on this chapter click [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24602377/chapters/59429860)
> 
> . Other than that, Happy Reading!

Northern Water Tribe. Capital City of Agna Qel’a. 84 AG. 

  
  


As the sun descends so the moon can rise and watch over the Northern Water Tribe, the night greets two women just finishing birthing their children. Chief Arnook watched over his wife and her dear twin sister as they shivered in the Northern Air. The chief’s wife, Uki, looked down at her baby girl Yue as her newborn remained silent. Her face grew with concern as her sister, Umi’s, baby had the same condition. Umi’s breath hitched as she hyperventilated and was scared for her son’s life. She looks to her sister and Arnook for guidance.

“Please! Someone! Call Yugoda right now!” Uki cried out as her husband fled the room and yelled for the resodemt healer. She attempted to sit up and reach for her sister but was too fatigued from just giving birth. She wished she could comfort her sister with her arms, but settled for words.

“He’s going to be okay Umi. Yugoda is on her way right now and she’ll heal Pana and Yue.” Uki said while adding her own daughter’s name to calm her own fears. It seemed to soothe Umi as she gently rocked her son hoping for some sound to come out of her mute child. She looked up at the moon and her eyes widened.

“The spirits...” Her voice cut through the cold infirmary as she invoked the moon spirit, “If Yugoda can’t heal them, we have to go to the spirit oasis.” It was forbidden to go to the spirits unless it was for an emergency, but to Umi this was of the utmost importance. After her husband died, this child was the only piece of him left. Uki looked shocked as the words left her sister’s mouth. 

“Let’s just wait until Yugoda gets here until we think about it, sister.” They both nodded and looked at their respective children. 

“I’m here!” Yugoda followed by a troupe of her healers rushed to the sisters’ sides and went to aid the infants. Umi was hesitant to release her son but gave in in hopes he’d be okay. 

Hours later and nothing worked. Uki sighed and looked to her sister, “You always have to be right, don’t you?” Umi smiled grimly as she relayed her plans to everyone in the room. Everyone in the room looked to Arnook to make the call.

The chief looks to his wife and his sister in-law and frowns. As a father and an uncle, he wants nothing more than to storm into the oasis and demand the spirits to help; however, as a chief he doesn’t want to abuse their power in case they ever need the spirits’ protection. He then looks at his daughter and nephew. He wants to weep as his eyes lock onto Yue and her eyes don’t open to look back at him. 

“Fine. We’ll go to the spirits and request their help,” He says while looking at the group of guards that followed him in. “Help my wife and her sister with getting them and their children to the oasis immediately.” With a nod the guards carefully gathered the sisters and followed Arnook to the oasis.

Uki, looking down at Yue just quietly smiled as she was carried to the spirit oasis. At this point, she felt a lot of things: fear, sadness, but also an overwhelming amount of hope as the chief’s wife felt the moon’s aura wash over her. She had always been the more levelheaded sister despite being the younger sister (albeit by 20 minutes but who’s counting?) and it hurt to see Umi spiraling like she was. Uki looked up and was met with the entrance to the oasis and her heart skipped a beat. If this worked, then she’d get to finally see her baby girl smile. Her thoughts were interrupted by the door opening and the tribesmen rushing her and Umi to the grass surrounding the pond.

“Here!” Arnook exclaimed as he raised his arms and his head to the sky, “Ocean and Moon Spirits we ask that you please lend your power to heal these two children. We beg and plead that you choose to use your great power to heed our request.” The words seemed to carry into night’s air, yet they were still heavy. The world seemed to stop for just a moment, save for Yue and Pana being gently placed into the oasis’ water.

Nothing and no one moved nor did they speak, fearing that if they did the spirits would not answer their calls. Suddenly, the trees rustled wildly as the wind surrounding the area picked up vigorously. Arnook looked around a second time and yelled once more. “Please! The Northern Water Tribe needs you to heal these children.” Tears welled up in his eyes as he dropped to his knees. Just then, as quickly as the white noise had come it completely halted. 

The oasis glowed and an infant’s cry from the water could be heard. At first, it started out faint but soon began to grow with volume almost rivaling the winds that came before. Umi and Uki struggled to leave the arms of the guards holding them, wanting so desperately to see their children. Yells of protest came from the guards as they quickly rushed to the pond and let the mothers see what was going on.

The scene that laid out before them was in a word: ethereal. Yue shone as bright as the moon as her hair shifted from brown to white. Even as her eyes opened for the first time it was as if she wasn’t a normal child: Her eyes were as white as her hair now and they glowed with an intensity that almost blinded half of the group. Yue then opened her mouth to speak and out of it came a voice that wasn’t her own

“Tribesmen of Agna Qel’a, we thank you for continued worship and patronage throughout the decade and to commemorate that, we have healed this child.” The voice that spoke seemed to be an amalgamation of two beings blending into. As the words left the infant’s mouth, Umi’s eyes widened and she reached out to Yue.

“Where is my child then? Where is Pana?! Bring him to me I beg you!” Hot tears streamed down her face while her hand gripped the grass beneath so hard it began to tear itself from the earth. Yue, or whatever spirits were channeling her’s eyebrows furrowed for a moment.

“Unfortunately, everything comes with a price. In order to heal one child, we had to drain the other one’s energy.” In an instant, Umi’s world came crashing down around her as she laughed quietly. The laughs quickly became wild and hysterical as her sister came around and tried to comfort her. Umi broke away and reached to her son’s still body as it was almost within grasp. 

As soon as her body touched the water, it glowed and consumed Pana. It was at that moment that Pana finally cried, the sound echoing underneath the water as he was transported to the spirit world. 

However, this story isn’t about Umi nor her argument with the ocean and moon spirits that led the body of Pana to be taken off into night by the same energy that seemed to make Yue’s eyes glow. This story is about how Tui and La lied to the Northern Water Tribe just so they could steal a child and raise him in the spirit world to replace the Avatar temporarily and change his name to Akira. This is the story of the Ratava, a boy born of man then reborn again by spirit, destined to bring balance to the story alongside the very being he was meant to replace.

\--

Somewhere in the Spirit World. Meditation Oasis. 100 AG

“Breathe In. Breathe Out. Feel the energy move through you and visualize a root growing from out of the ground. Bend soil and feel the nature ebb and flo-” La was interrupted by a groan of frustration leaving the now 16 year old Akira’s mouth. He was just beginning to get a tiny seedling to emerge from the earth when the plant undid his action and sucked itself back into the earth.

Akira rolled his eyes and let his body drop to the ground. “Why do I even NEED to learn how to bend nature? Light and shadow have been all I needed to get by and help spirits for about 6 years now. Just because the Avatar bent 4 elements does not mean I have to!” He whined but honestly La understood where the young bender was coming from. He was taken aback at times at how adaptable not to mention powerful Akira was with just two elements that were originally thought to be forgotten subsets of the main elements. However, if Tui and La were to convince the other Great Spirits that the Ratava was powerful and influential enough to create a cycle to rival the Avatar’s, 4 elements were needed. La looked upon Akira and sighed, “It’s the way it must be done.” 

_ ‘The way it must be done, huh? Like I haven’t heard that before.’  _ Akira has gotten that same answer from La an infinite amount of times every time he’s met with a question on why Akira is here. He was used to it at this point, but a part of him still itched to know what his purpose was. “Whatever, old man. Is there another discombobulated spirit that needs my guidance back to the spirit world? Maybe a fiery phantom that needs some soothing from yours truly?” He asked with a smirk whilst stretching his arms. Before La could scold Akira for treating spiritual matters as a joke, he resigned to just telling the young Ratava his next assignment.

“Yes actually, in the South Pole there’s just been a recent spiritual anomaly near the Southern Water Tribe village. It should be an angry spirit just waking up from hibernation that needs calming down. Bring Tikki with you just in case.” As the name left La’s mouth Tikki, a shapeshifting spirit, raced to Akira’s side followed by Tui. The two ancient spirits swirled around each other as a greeting. Akira feigned gagging as he watched the two loving spirits interact. Even after hundreds of years, the two seemed to be as in sync as ever.

Tikki nudged into Akira to interrupt his teasing and the bender laughed. He cleared his throat and walked towards the two, “Alright alright, can you two please wait until you send me off to start  _ fornicating _ or whatever spirits as old as you?” He laughed as he tried his best at imitating La’s formal voice. The duo unwrapped themselves from each other and Tui flew right at Akira.

“Hello, little one! How are we doing today with your florabending?” Akira embraced Tui and grumbled like a child.

“Well, I got a seedling to grow out of the ground! But I can’t get the fuc- I mean the freaking thing out far enough to actually be useful.” He briefly caught himself swearing and hoped he spoke quickly enough to cover it up. While being more carefree tha La, Tui still didn’t care much for ‘vulgar’ language. They both thought humanity tainted spoken language with unneeded language, but Akira thought about them more like sentence enhancers.

Tui seemed to catch Akira though as his face scrunched up. Akira took this as a sign to leave and ran to Tikki. “Come on Tikki. Let’s ride!” those seemed to be the magical words as Tikki flew under the boy’s body and shifted into a polar bear-dog and galloped to the South Pole portal. 

“Bye, you crazy kids! Don’t have too much fun without me!” Akira called out as he entered the light of the spirit portal. 

\--

South Pole. Southern Water Tribe. 100 AG

The spiritual disturbance in the air was so dense it slowed down Tikki in their tracks. “What the hell is going on here, Tikki?” They continued on through the frozen tundra, gazing at its stark white beauty. The sun rose and turned the snow surrounding the two into a peachy orange, Tikki’s pawprints returning it to white for a mere moment. It would be hard to tell a first glance that Tikki was a spirit, but if you really look at them they emanate a ghostly blue aura no matter what animal they shift into.

Tikki howled into the sky as they finally saw a village up ahead. As the spirit and Akira neared the entrance Tikki slowed down whilst villagers emerged from the wall to look upon the strangers. Akira patted his companion as they stopped to a halt. Akira hopped off and was met with a group of small primary school students whose faces were painted. From the group an older boy emerged. With piercing cobalt eyes and a short ponytail, he looked like an intimidating warrior.

“I think I’ve had it up to here with strangers who ride big animals showing up to my village.” Akira noticed the older boy’s voice was a bit high pitched if a bit exasperated. However, Akira also took note that there was another stranger in the village. Someone who was more than likely responsible for the anomaly in the area. When Akira didn’t immediately respond, the Water Tribe warrior grasped a weapon at his side tightly and rose it slowly to Akira’s face.

“Who are you?”

“Akira. My name is Akira and I have reason to believe you have something or someone who doesn’t belong in your village.” At that, the warrior gave a small smile and lowered his weapon.

“Finally! Someone’s lookin’ down on ole Sokka and giving him a lifeline!” He exclaimed while looking up at the sky. If Akira didn’t know any better, he could’ve sworn there was a tear streaming down the strange warrior’s face leaving a trail of ruined makeup.

Akira laughed and took Sokka’s hand into his own to shake it. “Sokka, is it? Nice to meet you now can you show me where this stranger is?” Sokka looked down at the stranger’s hand then back at him. Sure, he was reluctant to let yet another stranger into his village but if he could get rid of the bald weirdo trying to get with his sister out then maybe it would be worth the risk.

Without answer to Akira’s question Sokka dragged Akira by the arm towards the sound of screaming children. Sokka’s eyes widened as his mind wandered in horror. Akira beckoned Tikki and the spirit carried the two to the noise.

“I swear if anyone was hurt because of that bald freak, I’m going to kill him.” Akira’s eyebrow raised at Sokka’s statement and was about to ask what he meant when Tikki stopped suddenly. Sokka fell face first into the snow and groaned in pain while Akira expertly jumped off the polar bear-dog.

The two were met with children sliding down a flying bison’s back into a large pile of snow with eyes. As the last child landed in the snow pile, the wind picked up and the pile dispersed. From the center of the pile was a bald boy with blue tattoos. Akira’s eyes locked onto the arrows and immediately put the pieces together: the spiritual disturbance, the wind seeming to come out of nowhere, and finally a bald boy dressed in monk’s clothes who also had blue tattoos. Akira was looking at the lost airbending Avatar. This also meant that Akira was soon to be obsolete and the spirits that raised had failed in making a replacement for the very alive Avatar. 

“Oh shit.”


	2. A Bitter Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira wakes up to the sight of black smog and reunites with an unexpected ghost from his past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Thank you so much for deciding to read chapter 2 of The Ratava. I hope you enjoy! Without further ado, Happy Reading!

South Pole. Southern Water Tribe Village. 100 AG.

Akira didn’t even notice he fainted until he woke up in an igloo to the feeling of Tikki’s tongue on his face. For the record, a spirit’s tongue feels a lot like a regular tongue except it’s just smooth with no hint of texture. Tikki nudged his head against the Ratava who eventually melted into the touch and patted the spirit’s head.

“So, you’re awake!” The sound of a high-pitched voice from the corner of the igloo startled Akira and he fell back. The source of the voice came from the Avatar himself. While Akira was confused as to why the airbender looked so young, he was way more concerned with how little his personal space had gotten as the other young teen got right up to his face. He was definitely cute for sure, but the Ratava was too absorbed in his now existential crisis that he was no longer needed. The presence of the Avatar meant that soon the world would be balanced and the tyrannical rule of the Fire Nation would soon come to an end. As Akira was left stunned (which didn’t happen often) by how familiar the supposedly all-powerful Avatar was acting, the airbender spoke again.

“O-oh, I’m sorry are you deaf? Let’s see, my sign language that the monks taught me is a little rusty but I can-” He was cut off by being tackled to the ground by Akira. The brown-skinned boy’s face was nothing short of a mix of anger and shock. Tikki had curled up in a corner as if they’d seen Akira act like this before.

“Where have you been? The past 100 years while people have been killed, the past 100 years where the lives of spirits all across the globe have been ruined, and these past 100 years where all hope has been diminishing bit by bit! Where have you been, Avatar and why do you look so young?!” Tears welled up in both the boys’ eyes for seemingly different reasons. As the tattooed teen opened his mouth, a horn rang out in the village followed by the cries of the water tribesmen and tribeswomen. Akira looked sharply towards the sound and sprang up. He looked to the airbender on the ground and scowled. With a sigh he crouched down and lent him a hand to get him to his feet. The airbender tried to speak but was cut off by Akira once again.

“Come on! I’m guessing that was some kind of alarm for danger. Let’s deal with it and then you can explain why you’ve turned your back on the world.” Just like that, the Ratava threw the Avatar on Tikki and together they rode to the sound of commotion. The sky itself became riddled with black bits of smog descending from the sky. Akira looked to the horizon to find the origin and saw a large, metal warship. The Ratava’s eyes narrowed as he spotted the Fire Nation insignia.

“Now why is the Fire Nation here? Would you have anything to do this, baldy?” Silence emanated from behind Akira. “Hmm, how else would they have been able to track the--,” Suddenly, a thought came through. 

“Oh, the spiritual anomaly that those two geezers were talking about. You somehow must have sent out a signal that they were able to track. Once again causing trouble for others aren’t you, Avatar?” A grunt came from the airbender but no words followed. He still seemed shaken from the verbal onslaught the Ratava gave him. From behind Tikki, Sokka and a legion of children sprinted to the front of the village. The sounds of screaming rang out and that urged Tikki to run faster until the three came upon a semi-circle of the Water Tribe crowded around a dark figure.

‘’-all your elderly now! At this point, the Avatar must have years of experience!” Upon closer inspection, the figure revealed himself to be a fire nation soldier of high rank. “I am Prince Zuko, Crown Prince of the Fire Nation. You will reveal the Avatar to me this instant!” He exclaimed after removing his helmet, revealing a gruesome scar on the side of his face. At the reveal Akira gasped loudly, forcing the crowd of people to lay their eyes upon him, the airbender, and a somewhat corporeal polar bear-dog. The Ratava hopped off Tikki whilst the sea of people parted ways to let Akira through.

Tikki followed behind while the airbender sat motionless on the spirit’s back. Soon enough a young girl with tanned skin and brown hair ran alongside Tikki to look up at the Avatar. “Aang, what’s going on? Do you know these two boys at all?” Her piercing blue eyes grew with concern but Aang assured her everything was going to be alright and he was going to explain later. “Just wait for me here, okay Katara?” He said as the trio finally got into view of Prince Zuko.

Akira walked silently until he was almost an arm’s distance away from Zuko. They locked eyes for a moment until both had a moment of realization. “Lee?” In a moment of surprise, the prince’s previously angry face was replaced with one of shock.

“Lee, the last time I saw you, I-I thought you died! Now it turns out you’re actually the prince of the nation that’s been ruining everyone’s lives? I don’t know what business you have with the Avatar or  _ Aang _ as he’s apparently named, but you’re not gonna lie to me and expect to get away with it!” The air was thick with tension and the only sounds being heard were the winds of the icy tundra surrounding them. The sun was high in the sky and cast shadows across the remaining of the fire nation soldiers. Akira’s hands balled into fists and he raised them to his sides. He moved his hands to bend, but was interrupted by Aang's voice

“H-hey, let’s stop right here! Zuko, right? I’ll go with you but please just promise you’ll leave the rest of this village alone.” Aang floated off Tikki’s back to get between Akira and Zuko. Zuko’s face still was set on Akira’s. His heart was beating fast and his mind was running a million miles a minute. 

“Aki…” He started to say but seemed to come to his senses as he realized they weren’t the only two people around. The prince’s face shifted into a cruel smirk as he grabbed Aang roughly by the back of his neck to lead him to his warship. Sokka sprang into action with his weapon ready to attack Zuko, but with a swift kick thrown behind him, a burst of fire was summoned by the prince’s feet towards the Water Tribe warrior’s face. Luckily, Sokka ducked underneath and remained unscathed.

“We’re not done here L-  _ Zuko _ !” Akira called out as the airbender and firebender duo followed by a numerous amount of soldiers started to board their ship.

“I don’t have time nor energy to deal with whatever melodramatic bullshit you wish to discuss. You would do well to mind your tongue next time we cross paths, if ever.” He spat out his words laced with venom. The ship’s hangar began to close after them as Akira ran after the now embarking ship.

“Look me in the eyes and tell that to my face, dammit-,” Akira was grabbed from behind by Katara.

“Please! I know you want to talk to him, but can it wait until his ship leaves the vicinity of my home? Afterwards, I want to come with you to save Aang.” Katara pleaded and looked up at the scorned boy and he looked upon the faces of the now traumatized Water Tribe people: children crying and hanging onto their mothers, mothers having expressions of fear and anger, and the elders of the village seemed to have a look on their faces that says they’ve seen this happen one time too many.

Akira closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. His personal vendetta against that scar-faced jerk could wait for right now. “Fine, but as soon as they’re not within close proximity, we’re leaving immediately!” Katara nodded and then grabbed Akira’s hand to lead him to Sokka.

Sokka, with his ego damaged, looked annoyed to say the least. “Ugh! I can’t believe I tried to take on ROYALTY of the Fire Nation without any powers. Now that bald weirdo who turns out to be the fucking AVATAR is gone, and there’s no way to catch up to him now.” He groaned and fell on his butt in defeat. It was then Katara, who Akira quickly figured out was the ‘sister’ Aang was trying to get with who sighed and lent him a hand to pick him up.

“Come on, Wounded Warrior, we have to save Aang,” She said while Sokka met her with a look of suspicion.

“Hmm, want to go save your boyfriend, huh? Well come on then.” He smirked and walked off as Katara blushed and disagreed with his statement.

Akira figured wherever they were headed off to, he should follow so after grabbing Tikki he met the siblings at a nearby body of water. An old woman seemed to have just finished her farewells as she hugged and kissed both of them. She turned and saw Akira and kindly smiled.

“Please take care of them. I can’t offer you money, but just make sure you keep them out of trouble.” With one final hug that almost squeezed the life out of Akira, he smiled at her and ran over to Katara and Sokka. However, the Ratava suddenly realized something.

“Oh shit, I need to tell those two geezers everything that’s happened,” Akira turned and ran his fingers through Tikki’s fur. “Hey Sweetie, could you run and tell Fathers everything that’s happened here? I’ll be sure to get you when I can.” With a lick to the face, Tikki sprinted off in the direction of the South Pole portal. Akira sighed and gripped his fists.

_ ‘To be honest, I don’t really know what’s going to happen to me and I’m scared to go back home. How could I face Tui and La as proof of their secret plans failing. Should I even be helping the Avatar if it means I’ll probably have to disappear later? Too late now, I guess let’s just move on for now and deal with it when we get there.’  _ He turned again to the siblings and now was met with a giant sky bison in his face.

“Oh! Hello there buddy, you must be Aang’s. I’m Akira nice to meet you” Akira said as Sokka groaned and rolled his eyes while on his back.

“Yeah, but we can’t get him to fly. I’m starting to believe that kid stayed a  _ little  _ too long in that iceberg.” While Akira wanted to ask about the iceberg business, he climbed onto the bison and sat behind Katara at the reins. She looked worried and held onto the rope in front of her roughly. Akira put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a small smile.

“Hey, it took a lot of courage to leave your tribe to save some kid you just met. Plus, he’s the Avatar so this is pretty important if I do say so myself,” He said but then thought about how to make the bison fly. “Did Aang ever say a command word or phrase in front of you to make him fly?”

After some time, Sokka miraculously remembered it and off they went into the air and gazed into the bright blue sky. The Ratava pulled at his high ponytail to tighten it and sighed. He couldn’t imagine him never leaving his home and seeing the world. Admittedly, he was sort of jealous that they got to experience the world for the first time with such fresh eyes. It was certainly endearing, but he hated to think that the dark horrors of the world would love nothing more than to just snuff that innocent light out of their eyes. After a short exclamation of bewilderment from the two Water Tribe siblings, Akira cleared his throat. “Alright focus people. Right now, Aang is on a Fire Nation ship and is probably locked in the lower areas. He’s probably really scared at this moment-”

From a short distance away, the loud clanging of metal could be heard. Leaning over the edge of Appa, Aang could be seen on the deck of the ship knocking a door down with a gust of wind.

“Katara! Get us closer,” Akira exclaimed and as soon as Katara steered Appa closer to the ship, Akira jumped off and plummeted down before landing in a roll. Katara and Sokka followed shortly after albeit less gracefully.

Immediately, Akira and Aang surveyed their surroundings and saw the soldiers attempting to close in on them. They glanced at each other and gave a nod of mutual understanding. They flew into complete sync as they went on the offensive.

A soldier kicked out a burst of fire that was easily dispersed by Aang’s staff. Akira quickly ran and slid under the soldier’s leg and swept them from under him. Looking at the sun, Akira breathed in and exhaled sharply. Suddenly, three more versions of him shimmered into existence and ran towards the remaining soldiers.

“Hey, what was tha-” Sokka was about to ask before being frozen by Katara. Akira chuckled but ignored him for the moment to focus on the matter at hand. As the Ratava turned his head, he rolled out of the way of an incoming fire blast to his face. Zuko himself had started to dash full speed at Akira with hate in his eyes. Zuko lunged forward at Akira’s standing form but missed as the Ratava bent backwards to dodge him. Akira grunted and took his turn to lunge at the prince and straddled him into the ground.

“You asshole! Are you telling me that the whole year spent in Shu Jing meant  _ nothing?! _ I left for a few hours into town to come back to Piandao saying you died and Iroh took your body back to your home. Why? Why would you construct a lie like that?” He was met with silence and Zuko refused to meet his eye. Akira looked down and sighed before being pushed off onto his back. He quickly launched off his hands to land on his feet.

Almost immediately he and Zuko exchanged blows back and forth, neither person really gaining an advantage on the other. Both boys held fury in their eyes as they fought for their lives. Zuko’s fist whizzed past Akira’s face and he took that moment to grab it and throw the fire nation prince to the ground. The wind was knocked out of Zuko, but before Akira could continue his assault the scarred teen kicked his legs in a whirlwind right back to his feet. 

In that brief moment where Zuko’s vision was impaired, Akira swiftly moved behind and directed another illusion of himself in front of his former friend. Zuko once again lunged at the form of Akira but was foiled once he passed through the illusion and fell on his face. The Ratava lost focus and laughed at the display in front of him.

In an instant, Zuko regained his composure and threw a fist at Akira backed up by fire. Caught off guard, Akira stumbled back in an attempt to not get burned. Zuko took this opportunity to rush the other boy with a flurry of attacks, eventually backing Akira into the side of the ship. The Ratava had his back up against the wall with his hands up to block Zuko’s assault. 

With one final push, Akira’s body went sailing over the edge into the freezing water below. The Ratava looked up as he was descending and was surprised to see what looked like a tear falling down the side of Zuko’s face. In that short, fleeting moment Akira glanced upon the shadow of the boy that he fell in love with once.

“Lee..”

~+~

_ ‘ “Aki! Look at what Master has me doing now!” The 15 year-old Zuko ran up to a 14 year-old Akira in the gardens of Master Piandao’s mansion. The young Ratava was practicing using the fans as a way of combat with his uncle Iroh. The two were enraptured in a dance of sorts, the flow of their energy moving back and forth between them. They both moved simultaneously with each other, as if moving in time with music that didn’t exist. Zuko looked on and only could stare at the duo engaging in a weird mix of a sparring match and a dance duet. _

_ “That’s it Akira, feel the energy inside and outside of your body. Make sure to remember that you are more flexible than your opponent. Use that flexibility to swim through battle at your own pace and turn the tides in your favor.” Iroh’s low baritone voice followed Akira’s movements as he added his own flair. The young boy parried Iroh’s strikes and turned around his body. Iroh threw another strike and the Ratava used his momentum to backflip over the old man’s body. Akira then drew the dance to a close as he brought his own steel fans around his teacher’s neck. _

_ Akira withdrew his weapons and the two bowed at each other. “Thank you, Master Mushi!” Zuko clapped as the duet drew to close and tackled Akira in a hug. Words of praise flew from the prince towards his dear friend. _

_ “Thank you, Lee! What did you want to show me?” At the end of his sentence, Zuko drew two broadswords from behind and demonstrated a martial arts routine to which Akira applauded for. _

_ The two said farewells to Iroh as they ran deeper into Piandao’s garden for lunch. Zuko led the younger boy to a nearby clearing that had a blanket spread out full of food. The duo sat down across from each other and indulged in their daily picnic. _

_ Their conversation was normal until Zuko touched the left side of his face and silence washed over him, “Hey Aki...would you like me no matter what?” The atmosphere quieted down as the other male furrowed his brows at Zuko for a moment. _

_ “Yeah of course I’ll always like you, Lee. Why do you ask?” Zuko didn’t speak for a bit as he struggled to find the right words to say. _

_ “It’s just...when people get close to me they get hurt. It happened to Lu Ten, my mom, and I think it’s just a matter of time before it happens to you!” His fists balled as hot tears fell down his face. It had been about eight months since the two met but it had felt like a lifetime spent between them. Their time spent as friends was deeply cherished by Zuko, but there was a part of him that was being eaten alive by guilt. He felt like a monster by lying to Akira, but every time he tried to come clean the words about his royal upbringing wouldn’t leave his mouth. He was at his wit’s end and couldn’t bring himself to hide his true identity from the person he was growing to love. _

_ Suddenly, Zuko felt a hand meet his own that was on his face. Akira clasped it and rubbed his thumb along the prince’s fingers. “Lee. I’m not going anywhere. These several months with you have been the very best of my life. I had to get away from home for awhile to figure things out and when Piandao took me in, I was wary at first but then you came along and made me feel comfortable. You have shown me the greatest kindness ever and I will always be grateful for that,” At that, tears started to stream down Akira’s face as well. He choked out a sob and as Zuko was about to apologize, the Ratava held up a hand to continue speaking. _

_ “Lee...I love you. I don’t think I’ve ever loved anyone besides my parents, but whenever I look at you I’m overcome with such joy and can’t believe I’m so lucky that I’m able to spend every day with you. So, believe me when I tell you that no matter what, I will never hate you...ever.” Zuko was taken aback at Akira’s confession. His tears disappeared and his eyes became wide. _

_ “A-akira, I don’t know w-what to say I-” His stammering words were cut off by lips meeting his own. The Ratava backed away slightly to look up at the Fire Nation’s prince. _

_ “Then just shut up and kiss me instead.” _

_ ~+~ _

The ghostly memory of Zuko’s lips was the only warmth Akira felt in the cold arctic water. He was still shocked and confused by what just happened but he was too hurt emotionally to think too deeply about it. He just stared into the abyss at the bottom of the sea and slowly sank into the depths, ready to succumb to whatever was going to take him.

Just then, a splash was heard from not too far away as Aang quickly swam to Akira’s side; however, there was something different about the airbender. His eyes were pure white and the expression that was on his face was one that seemed to belong to someone years older than him. As Aang grasped Akira’s now unconscious body, the water around them swirled violently and rose at the Avatar’s command. They broke through the surface and the vortex of water ascended into the sky and shifted into a tsunami as it nearly capsized the Fire Nation warship.

Aang soon fell after the display of his power with Akira in his arms and luckily they were both caught by Sokka and Katara before being put onto Appa’s back.

The two woke up shortly after to the sounds of Sokka screaming as he recapped the whole fight. “-and then there were like three or four Akiras but then he got kicked into the ocean by that scarred jerk but THEN Aang went all glowy glowy pow POW and made the water mo--” He cut himself off and stared into Aang’s eyes. “How did you do that by the way? I thought you were an airbender.” Katara sighed before slapping her brother upside the head.

“Sokka, he’s the Avatar! He can master all 4 elements. He’s supposed to bring peace to the world and bring it to balance” She said matter-of-factly but then looked at Akira. “But then if Aang is the Avatar then what does that make you? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone being able to make  _ multiples  _ of themselves.” And to that, Akira chuckled lightly.

“Eh,I don’t know it’s just some trick I picked up. I’ve been able to do it for so long I forgot who taught me.” Akira said while completely avoiding the question asked of him. He didn’t want to reveal his identity quite yet in front of everyone because  _ technically _ he wasn’t supposed to exist. Sokka objected to his statement, but Akira had turned around and ignored him. He looked in the direction of Zuko and his ship as they flew away.

“Aang.’’ All three passengers looked towards the Ratava and fell silent. “If you’re to fulfill your duties as Avatar, we need to get you to master the elements. Since there didn’t seem to be any capable waterbenders in the Southern Water Tribe, no offense Katara, we need to go to the North Pole if we want to get you two a teacher.”

“Two?” Katara asked with a look of confusion.

“Yeah, if we’re gonna help Aang bring balance to the world, we’re gonna have to take the Fire Nation down a peg. That’ll require all of us.” Akira turned back to them and smiled. “So, what do we think? Are you guys ready to save the world?” The remaining three passengers glanced at each other before giving each other a nod and bringing their hands in for a team salute.

As all four of them cheered while flying off into the distance, there was a thought still in the back of Akira’s mind as he was renewed with vigor and determination. He was going to save his first love from whatever was plaguing his mind no matter what.

_ ‘I don’t know what happened to you Lee, but I’m going to keep my promise. I’ll never start hating you...ever.’ _

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo that was a wild chapter, huh? What do you think so far? How did you feel about Akira's first interaction with Aang? Or that little flashback with little Akira and Lee aka Zuko? Drop all of your thoughts in the comments, leave a kudos, and maybe even bookmark this work! I hope you enjoyed!!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for making it this far! Leave a kudos, comment what you thought, and maybe subscribe!


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